How To Deal With a Guilty Conscience the Bible Way

Has your conscience been bothering you about something? If it has, the worst thing you can do is to ignore it.

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There are times when our conscience just won't leave us alone.

Maybe you did something that seemed to make sense at the time, or perhaps you are planning to take a particular action and don’t see any logical reason why you shouldn't. But still, somewhere in the back of your mind, there’s something that makes you uneasy about it. That uneasiness may well be the voice of conscience trying to save you from doing something that could end up being very damaging to yourself or others.

Conscience is God’s Warning System

Let me ask you what may seem like an irrelevant question, but it’s one that can illustrate a very important point. How long can you hold your breath? Well, let’s find out. Take a look at a clock, or if there’s not one handy, do a mental count. Now, start holding your breath and keep on for as long as you can.

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How long were you able to hold out? It may interest you to know that the world record was set in 2016 by professional freediver Aleix Segura Vendrell, who stayed under water without breathing for an amazing 24 minutes and 3.45 seconds. Most people find it extremely difficult to hold their breath for even 30 seconds.

Actually, the amount of time you can go without breathing doesn’t really matter. What’s important is the fact that eventually your discomfort with holding your breath will reach a point where you can’t stand it any more, and you have no choice but to start breathing again.

Why is that? It’s because God built into the human body a warning system to alert us when we are doing something that's physically damaging. Since oxygen is necessary to life, this built-in warning system is designed to make us extremely uncomfortable if we try to go without breathing for too long.

In the same way, God has built into the human spirit a warning system that’s designed to make us more and more uncomfortable when we are doing something that is morally or spiritually damaging. That spiritual warning system is called the conscience. And it’s just as necessary to our well-being as the physical discomfort that protects us against doing things that damage our bodies.

That's why we, like the apostle Paul, should work hard to keep a good conscience:

Acts 24:16 This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.

Note: all verses are from the New King James Version of the Bible

Everybody Has a Conscience

The Bible says that God has written His law in the heart of every person, whether that person acknowledges God or not.

Romans 2:14-15 Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.

As this passage makes clear, not everyone has specific knowledge of God's laws as revealed in the Bible. But everyone does have a built-in sense of right and wrong that God holds us all accountable to obey.

No matter who you are, or what culture you grew up in, there is something inside you that tells you it's wrong to steal what doesn't belong to you, or to take the life of an innocent person, or to cheat on your husband or wife. Whenever we decide to do such things, our conscience will do its best to make us very unhappy as long as we persist in our wrongdoing.

How do you usually handle it when your conscience bothers you?

I basically ignore it and keep doing what I want to do

I won't really feel right until I correct the situation so that my conscience stops bugging me

What To Do When Your Conscience Is Bothering You

If you are feeling pangs of conscience about something you have done, or something you are thinking about doing, you should recognize it as God's warning system telling you that you may be getting yourself into trouble. But when those conscience alarm bells go off, what should you do about it? Here are five steps to take to deal with a guilty conscience.

1. Pay Attention To Your Conscience!

On February 19, 1985, Iberia Air Lines Flight 610 was on its final approach to Bilbao Airport in Spain. Suddenly the GPWS (the Ground Proximity Warning System) began saying in a very loud and insistent manner, "Pull up! Pull up!", indicating that the airplane was too close to the ground. But for some reason the captain believed the GPWS was giving a false indication, so he ignored the warning. In fact, he was heard on the cockpit voice recorder shouting "shut up, shut up" at the GPWS as it continued to sound off.

The result of the captain ignoring the voice of the plane's built-in warning system was disaster. The Boeing 727 struck a television antenna on the summit of Mount Oiz and crashed, killing all 148 people on board.

In the same way, the Bible says, people who ignore the warnings of their conscience may well be headed for disaster:

1 Timothy 1:19 holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.

When you sense your conscience sounding off, your first priority is to pay attention to it! You can't afford to just keep on with business as usual in your life.

Airplane flying low over mountains | Source

When my conscience shouts at me, or nags at me, it's telling me that in some way I am flying too close to the ground and had better pull up before it's too late!

2. Acknowledge That What You Did (Or Plan to Do) Is Wrong

Psalm 32:3-5When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. 4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. 5 I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," And You forgave the iniquity of my sin.

When we feel burdened down with guilt because of something we've said or done, that's our conscience doing the job it was designed to do. In fact, if our conscience is healthy, it won't let up until we change course and correct the situation. The first step in making that correction is to acknowledge that what we did was not right; that, in fact, it was sinful.

That means specifically identifying what we did, then admitting to ourselves, to God, and to any individuals we may have hurt, that it was wrong. It means refusing to make excuses why it's not our fault, and refusing to minimize it because it's not nearly as bad as what someone else did. In other words, we need to own it.

If I said nasty things about George behind his back, or neglected to keep the promise I made to Joanne that she was counting on, I need to specifically name that behavior as wrong and sinful, and not just an innocent "mistake" that anyone could make.

3. Repent of (Turn Away From) Your Wrongdoing

Ezekiel 18:30"Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways," says the Lord GOD. "Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin.

To repent means to turn around | Source

As a young man, when my hands got soiled I would often wipe them on my pants. It was such an ingrained habit that I usually didn't even notice that I did it. Then I got married. My new wife did notice my habit, and let me know that she didn't like it.

Since I enjoy being married, I couldn't just ignore her - I had to pay attention. And I had to acknowledgethat wiping dirty hands on my trousers was disgusting, unsanitary, and downright wrong.

But there was another step I had to take, without which the first two would have been useless - I had to stop doing it! In other words, I had to repent.

To repent simply means to turn away from the wrong I've done, and go another way. Once I've identified the behavior that's stirred up my conscience and acknowledged its wrongfulness, the next indispensable step is to make a solemn commitment that, with God's help, I won't engage in that behavior any more.

Sometimes letting go of an ingrained habit is hard. But we have the privilege of asking God for His help to turn away from that behavior. And He is faithful to give it.

4. Make It Right With Anyone You Have Wronged

The biblical word for this is "restitution":

Numbers 5:7 then he shall confess the sin which he has committed. He shall make restitution for his trespass in full, plus one-fifth of it, and give it to the one he has wronged.

To make restitution simply means to restore someone to where they were before you damaged them. Even if perfect restoration is not possible (and that's often the case), conscience will demand that we do everything we can to make things right.

For example, if I've spoken negatively about someone, and unfairly tarnished their reputation, I may need to publicly ask forgiveness not only from the person I maligned, but also from the other people who heard my slander or gossip.

If my wrongdoing has damaged someone else, my conscience won't be satisfied until I do all I can to repair the damage.

5. Receive God's Forgiveness

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

This is the heart of the good news of the gospel! Jesus went to the cross so that the sins of those who commit their lives to Him can be forgiven. Because of Christ's sacrifice, we have God's promise that when we acknowledge our sins and turn away from them, we can count on His complete forgiveness.

God doesn't intend for our conscience to keep us burdened down with guilt and misery because of past sins. Instead, He designed our conscience to lead us to repentance, so that we turn away from the wrong and to what's right. When that happens, the conscience has done its job, and the burden of guilt is lifted.

Once you've acknowledged and repented of your wrongdoing, you can joyfully accept God's complete forgiveness and cleansing. The cloud is lifted, the guilt is removed, and you are free.

Remember that God convicts you of sin to lead you to repentance; the devil condemns you for your sin to keep you in bondage. If feelings of guilt and condemnation come back after you've repented of your wrongdoing, believe and confess, on the basis of 1 John 1:9, that God has forgiven you and cleansed you, and your guilt is totally removed.

Comments

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Fernetra D.

4 weeks ago

Thank you

AUTHOR

Ronald E Franklin

22 months agofrom Mechanicsburg, PA

Thanks, Dora. I hope it's helpful to people - keeping a clean conscience is a big part of spiritual and mental health for all of us.

Dora Weithers

22 months agofrom The Caribbean

I appreciate the way you handled this important topic. You explained clearly the benefit of maintaining a healthy conscience through which God can use the guilt emotion to warn us. Pleased that you presented God's forgiveness as the appropriate closure.

AUTHOR

Ronald E Franklin

22 months agofrom Mechanicsburg, PA

Thanks so much, Katharine, and welcome back to HP. I look forward to reading your new articles.

Katharine L Sparrow

23 months agofrom Massachusetts, USA

Ron, this uplifting and comforting article is truly a balm to the soul. The passages you quote are so perfect to the examples given, and your gentle way of persuasion makes it easy for the reader to nod and smile and say "oh yeah, you're right about that!" Truly enjoyed this piece, hope to see more like it. I'm back to hubpages after a long absence and am sprucing up my articles before I add new, just to let you know you won't find a new article on my profile yet! Thanks again for this, excellent job.

AUTHOR

Ronald E Franklin

23 months agofrom Mechanicsburg, PA

Thanks, Jo. I'm sure your Sunday School class discussion was beneficial. There's much more to say than I was able to put into this article; for example, how conscience relates to being convicted by the Holy Spirit. I hope to address such issues in another article.

Jo Miller

23 months agofrom Tennessee

Great ideas, Ron. We had a discussion about this in our Sunday School class this past Sunday.

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